VAN NUYS : Mural Ties Minority Experiences

An artist has selected a wall at the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center to create a memorial to the common heritage of Jews and other American minorities.

“I’m trying to remind both Jews and non-Jews that there is this shared aspect of experience,” said John Pitman Weber, a Chicago-based artist who received a $30,000 grant from the city of Los Angeles for the project.

“Whether it is immigration, the struggle for rights, oppression and violence, a tax against people, or whether it is the experience of sharing bread or sharing sacrifices. These things don’t only happen to Jews.”

This vision is reflected in the multicultural images depicted on the 80-by-15-foot mural at the center, 13164 Burbank Blvd., in Van Nuys.

One segment, based on photos of Central American and African refugees, evokes the departure of Jews from Egypt and flights into exile or freedom. A somber painting of bodies piled into the back of a truck--the victims of El Salvadoran death squads--also reminds onlookers of the Holocaust.

A racially mixed group performs a traditional Jewish dance, the hora. A silhouette of the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., captures the hope for equality among all races and religions.

Due for completion at the end of July, the mural has already had a unifying effect, drawing nearly a dozen volunteers from different ethnic backgrounds throughout the San Fernando Valley.

Volunteer Joanne Maldonado of Sylmar said much of her knowledge of Jewish history concerned difficult events such as the Holocaust. Working on the mural, she said, helped her see how much of Jewish culture is focused on the positive.

“The theme of this is trying to bring people together,” said Maldonado, 41. “It’s the same common goal: for everybody to be happy in the end.”